Phased out: New transition program to replace phase system

  • Published
  • By John Ingle
  • 82nd Training Wing Public Affairs
SHEPPARD AIR FORCE BASE, Texas --  The New Year won't be the only change when permanent party and Airmen in Training return from the Holiday Exodus Jan. 3.

Master Sgt. Michael Mire, 82nd Training Wing military training flight chief, said the wing's Training Operations office will implement a new transition program beginning Jan. 4.

The transition program replaces the three-phase program that has been in use at Air Education and Training Command technical training bases for several years. Sergeant Mire said instead of three phases that Airmen progress through - with the possibility of being "phased back" to an early phase - they will now progress through an Initial Training Period the first 30 days upon arriving at Sheppard. The AiT will then progress to the Advanced Transition Period.

Under the soon-to-be old program, Airmen advanced from Phase 1 to Phase 2 after 15 days at Sheppard. Phase 3 was achieved on day 36. However, Airmen who earned the right to progress to Phase 3 could be washed back to Phase 1 or 2 depending on the severity of the incident.

The new program does not allow for Airmen to be phased back, rather it gives military training leaders the opportunity to conduct more one-on-one counseling sessions to provide guidance on any issue in which an Airman might have difficulty.

"When they get to their first operational base, they're not going to pull (an Air Force Form) 341 and phase you back," Sergeant Mire said. "There isn't a program there to phase you back."

The sergeant said command leadership recognized that the phase program was not in line with preparing Airmen for the operational Air Force during technical training. That's when they held a summit at Keesler Air Force Base, Miss., in February 2009 that included military training leaders.

Master Sgt. Kevin Taylor, an MTL at the 364th Training Squadron at the time, attended the summit. Airmen at the summit constructed a test program to be implemented at Goodfellow AFB, Texas, in January 2010, he said, because of the small number of Airmen in Training at the installation. Not long after that, another test bed was launched at Keesler.

Sergeant Taylor said the test bases had encouraging results.

"Their biggest positive was it got MTLs out from behind the desk and required less documentation," the sergeant said. "You have documentation with every progression or phase back."

Sergeant Mire said MTLs are responsible for supervising 60-150 AiT at any given time. With the amount of paperwork that was required to document each progression - or regression - of the phase program, the time MTLs could give to mentoring and correcting deficiencies was greatly hindered.

However, when Airmen get to the operational Air Force, the frontline supervisors correct action on the spot with counseling sessions. The sergeant said changing from a phase program to a transition program will give Airmen more ownership of their progression and provide a better product for the operational Air Force.

"I think the Air Force gets an Airman who is more capable of handling situational awareness at that base," Sergeant Mire said. "They're able to think more outside the box. Creating a more productive member is the goal."

Sergeant Taylor said leadership looked at a couple specific items in 2009 when discussing the change. He said the purpose of Phase 2 was discussed, citing that there was no real benefit to AiT wearing blues when they went downtown. An Airman in Training curfew and the ability to consume tobacco products on base were also topics of discussion.